If you’ve ever watched children at the playground on a seesaw, you know that it takes two people to play. If one gets off, the other cannot play. The expression, “tottering on the brink,” comes from the older name for a seesaw. It was called a ‘teeter-totter.’ If you’ve ever been left dangling in the air and watching the person […]
The Trust Seesaw
Validating vs. Condoning
One of the skills of mindful communication is Validating vs. Condoning. Look at the picture above and describe what you see. Did you see an old lady, or a young lady? If you saw both, which did you see first? Now assume your partner saw the old lady in the picture, and you saw the young lady. Which of you […]
Signs of an Emotionally Aggressive Relationship
Emotional aggression is the aggressive use of our own emotional states in an attempt to manipulate or control others, or in an attempt to make others responsible for our moods. If I hold others responsible for my emotional state, I am being emotionally aggressive. Likewise, if I attempt to control the emotional states of others against their will, I am […]
Emotional Aggression and Gaslighting
One of the concepts we frequently talk about in Mindfulness-Based Ecotherapy is emotional aggression. Emotional aggression and gaslighting usually go hand-in-hand. Gaslighting is used to perpetuate a perpetrator’s emotional aggression. Emotional aggression is the aggressive use of our own emotional states in an attempt to manipulate or control others, or in an attempt to make others be responsible for our […]